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1 2 3 Previous Next 33 Replies Last post: Jul 10, 2008 7:58 AM by rpartmann Go to original post

Re: Cheap ESX solution (Tests)

15. Apr 15, 2008 3:19 PM

in response to: TheDonMiguel

prlyons

5 posts since
Sep 26, 2007

My ESX lab, parts listed below all purchased from NewEgg:

Item List

MEM 2GX2|A-DATA ADQVE1B16K R - Retail (Qty=2, Price=$139.98)
MB JETWAY JM26GT3-SVP AM2 - Retail (Qty=2, Price=$79.98)
CASE LINKWD|313G-C2628 BK/SIL % - OEM (Qty=2, Price=$55.98)
CPU AMD|A64 X2 4000+ 2.1G AM2 65N R - Retail (Qty=2, Price=$111.98)
FLASH 1G|KST FLDRV DTI/1GBKR R - Retail (Qty=2, Price=$11.98)
Extended Warranty Fee: 0
Subtotal: 399.90
TAX: 0.00
Shipping and Handling Charge**: 44.71
Total: 444.61 Not bad for a 2 node ESX cluster.

Plopped in old Intel 10/100 PCI cards that I had collecting dust in each, ESX 3i installable onto the USB thumb drives, Solaris 10 w/ZFS for ISCSI target, another old solaris box for NFS datastore... The MB supports up to 4 x 2GB RAM, so can grow from 4 GB to 8GB in each server. Also plan on getting a cheap gigabit switch and a few gig NICS. very functional, especially for studying for VCP exam.

Re: Cheap ESX solution (Tests)

16. Jun 8, 2008 1:57 AM

in response to: TheDonMiguel

tuckrman

6 posts since
Jun 8, 2008

This is an interesting thread. I am looking at building an ESX solution, getting the Asus Mainboard mentioned etc. I currently have a file server with a RocketRAID2220 in it that I have a 2TB RAID array hanging off. Could I use the RocketRAID2220 in my ESX machine ? Have not been able to find any information anywhere as to if anyone has successfully got one of these working. Any information would be much appreciated, cheeres

Re: Cheap ESX solution (Tests)

17. Jun 8, 2008 2:55 AM

in response to: tuckrman

rpartmann

224 posts since
Feb 8, 2007

Hi,

please send us the vendor id/device id of this controller.
on my computer rclick-> manage -> devicemanager -> scsi
controllers -> $YOUR_SCSI_ROCKETRAID -> TABdetails dewvice instance id
you will find something PCI\VEN_xxxx&DEV_yyyy&subsys_zzzzzzzz.

But if this controller is some sort of software raid ala promise ...
then it could be that there is no driver for raid funtionality.

hope we can help,
Reinhard.

Re: Cheap ESX solution (Tests)

18. Jun 8, 2008 5:09 AM

in response to: rpartmann

tuckrman

6 posts since
Jun 8, 2008

Thanks for the prompt reply. Unfortunately you might be right there it might be a software based solution

It seems to be a good card though, seems to work very well under Windows 2003 Server

The details as requested are: PCI\VEN_11AB&DEV_6081&SUBSYS_11AB11AB&REV_09\3&267A616A&0&48 Cheers

Re: Cheap ESX solution (Tests)

19. Jun 9, 2008 5:16 PM

in response to: rpartmann

tuckrman

6 posts since
Jun 8, 2008

hey mate, any further information on the above ? Thanks

Re: Cheap ESX solution (Tests)

20. Jun 10, 2008 5:23 AM

in response to: tuckrman

rpartmann

224 posts since
Feb 8, 2007

Hi,

i searched on my server where i have 2 sata controllers running,
but i didn´t find your vendor id in these files.

kind regards,
Reinhard.

ps: Award points if you find answers helpful. Thanks.

Re: Cheap ESX solution (Tests)

21. Jun 10, 2008 9:32 PM

in response to: rpartmann

tuckrman

6 posts since
Jun 8, 2008

Thanks mate!

Bit disappointing that it may not work, it seems from further research on the web no one has it working. Cheers anyway!

Re: Cheap ESX solution (Tests)

22. Jun 10, 2008 9:35 PM

in response to: tuckrman

Dave.Mishchen…

9,174 posts since
Nov 15, 2005

If you'd like to see the possibility of it working down the road, I would suggest adding a post here - http://communities.vmware.com/message/947521#947521.

Re: Cheap ESX solution (Tests)

23. Jun 10, 2008 9:44 PM

in response to: Dave.Mishchen…

tuckrman

6 posts since
Jun 8, 2008

Already done

Thanks for your advice, seems a fair few people out there have these cards (as they seem to be reasonably priced and have good features) so it would be good to see them working

Re: Cheap ESX solution (Tests)

24. Jun 22, 2008 7:50 AM

in response to: xAyiDe

xxxomxxx

1 posts since
Jun 22, 2008

i am wondering how you want to install esx. It does not regognize the cdrom....

has anyone really got ESX (AND NOT VMWare Server) to work on a GA-G33-DS3R??

greetz

cobra

Re: Cheap ESX solution (Tests)

25. Jun 22, 2008 1:15 PM

in response to: xxxomxxx

ceemour

76 posts since
Apr 7, 2006

Have got the GA-G33-DS2R working no problem with a plugin intel e1000 nic using esx 3.5

Re: Cheap ESX solution (Tests)

26. Jun 22, 2008 10:09 PM

in response to: xxxomxxx

Dave.Mishchen…

9,174 posts since
Nov 15, 2005

See also the link on this page - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3.5/Whiteboxes_SATA_Controllers_for_ESX_3.5_3i.htm

If you have problems with the CD-ROM, it happens with ESX and SATA CD-ROMs. Do you have another CD-ROM to use or an HTTP / FTP server you could install from? See also if you have an option to put the CD-ROM in legacy or IDE mode.

Re: Cheap ESX solution (Tests)

27. Jun 23, 2008 8:32 AM

in response to: Dave.Mishchen…

vmmeup

454 posts since
May 3, 2006

If you can't get the sata cdrom to work you could download and run the UDA as a VM on another machine and do the install from there. This is what I ended up doing because I didn't want to remove the sata cdrom and put in an IDE.

Re: Cheap ESX solution (Tests)

28. Jul 10, 2008 3:25 AM

in response to: MartynT

itopman

12 posts since
Jun 2, 2008

HI...I read your thread with gresat intrest as I am also trying to get my Dell 670 to work with ESX 3.5, as with yours the error 'mounting root failed dropping into basic maintenance shell also stated VMK538 and 0xbad001e'

I need to no how to do your fix "To do this, simply boot into the recovery console, edit the /etc/vmware/esx.conf file and add /vmkernel/checkCPUIDLimit = "FALSE". Reboot"

when you boot it gives 3 options recovery console is not one of them so which one did you mean? 1, ESX 3.5 server, 2, EXS 3.5 server debug mode or 3, Service console only trouble shooting mode.

And can you give simple instrutions on how to edit this file as I tried option 2 but could not get it to do any thing, my knowledge of this EXS server and command lines is zero

thanks

Brian

Re: Cheap ESX solution (Tests)

29. Jul 10, 2008 3:41 AM

in response to: itopman

MartynT

4 posts since
Nov 8, 2006

Hi Brian,

When you get to the boot menu select the 3rd option. Once at the command line type "nano /etc/vmware/esx.conf" without the quotes. Simply add the line "/vmkernel/checkCPUIDLimit = "FALSE"" to the top of the file and press 'Ctrl + X' to exit, Press 'Y' to save the changes. Once you've saved the file, reboot the machine as normal.

I hope this helps,

Thanks,

Martyn

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